Top 777 Songs: 770 – 761

You can listen to all of these songs as a mix here. (or via the widget at the bottom of the post)

770

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Rufus WainwrightGoing To A Town

Taken From: Rufus Wainwright – Release The Stars (2007)

“I’m so tired of you, America”

This is seemingly my favourite Rufus Wainwright song as it’s the only one I shorlisted for inclusion in this chart. For some reason I specifically associate it with a certain point in my walk to work (albeit not my current route to work). I’m assuming I was once listening to it when I was in that specific geographical location – quite possibly the first time I heard it, or at least the point at which I realised how much I liked it. I love how songs can evoke really specific associations, even when you can’t place the significance or any kind of definite memory. It’s also a really beautiful song.

769

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Acid CasualsBowl Me Over

Taken From: Acid Casuals – Omni (2006)

“No need for me to surrender the thought of us together”

Acid Casuals were a bit of a Welsh supergroup I guess – including Cian Ciaran from Super Furry Animals and Kev Tame from Big Leaves. This was the first song of theirs I heard and has remained my favourite – you can definitely hear the Super Furry influence in it. My MP3 tagging tells me that I first got hold of it on a compilation CD titled ‘Fresh Welsh Talent 2006’. I sadly don’t remember where/how I got hold of the CD itself, though it has some great songs on it. That link will take you to Ebay, which is also a likely place that I’ll have bought it. I’d imagine the Poppies track will have been the persuading factor in wanting to buy it, though Richard James, The Hot Puppies and Radio Luxembourg will also have been highly persuasive. In total there are 3 tracks on that CD which have made it into this chart.

768

709↓

Jill SobuleYou Better Not Kill In Texas

“You better not kill in the Lone Star State. They just love to kill you.”

I’ve always just known this track as ‘Texas’ (which is what I called it on my previous chart), though looking on Jill’s site to double-check it wasn’t released in some other form than free download has alerted me to its full title. I’ve listened to it for so many years now though, it’s always just going to be ‘Texas’ to me. Not that the name’s really important. It’s technically dropped slightly in the rankings since I last did this chart, though not by much at all – in fact it’s a negligible enough amount to be able to say I like it just as much now as I did back then. The full title is quite a bit more self-explanatory as to what the song is about – Jill will often take a very tongue-in-cheek look at American culture and values and this is a good example of that. It’s also why I like her so much! She basically says how you’re better off killing people in other states than you are in Texas, due to their propensity towards the death penalty. Google tells me that Texas have executed more than 4 times the number of people than any other state! Er, yeehaw?

There’s not a YouTube video for it, but you can listen via the link above to Jill’s website.

767

78↓

Remy ZeroGramarye

Taken From: Remy Zero – Villa Elaine (1998)

“She moves and it’s fire”

No that’s not a typo – this song has genuinely dropped almost 700 places since the 2005 chart. I listened to Remy Zero a lot in 2005 – partly due to their connection to Smallville, which I was somewhat obsessed with during that period – though also because they have some great songs. Although I do still enjoy their songs when I hear them now, it’s very rare that I’d specifically choose to listen to one. My tastes have just shifted in a way that means they’ve moved closer to the periphery. This song is the only one of theirs that has remained in this chart, as although I don’t listen to it often these days, it’s good enough to deserve its place here regardless.

766

415↓

Frente!Bizarre Love Triangle

Taken From: Frente! – Marvin The Album (1994)

“Why can’t we be ourselves like we were yesterday?”

Another band that I don’t listen to anywhere near as much as I used to. Yes, it’s a cover of the New Order song, though New Order themselves have never really been my kinda thing, whereas Frente! very much have been. I’m sure there are people out there who’d be somehow disgusted that I prefer this to the original, but that kind of pleases me. I find it a lot more emotional, plus I love Angie Hart’s voice. I’m also loving just how ’90s this music video is.

765

500↓

Jill SobuleSoldiers Of Christ

Taken From: Jill Sobule – Happy Town (1997)

“When we’re in heaven, you’ll be sorry”

I feel like this song’s a good companion to Texas really (see, I told you I’d still call it ‘Texas’). Musically they’re pretty different, but lyrically they’re in the same kind of territory – this time looking at the scary far-right religious types that America has a troubling number of. As the brilliance of it is mostly in the lyrics, it seems pointless for me to say too much about it when you could just listen to it instead. So do that. You definitely should.

764

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Garfunkel and OatesFrozen Lullaby

Taken From: Garfunkel and Oates – Secretions (2015)

“So hush little egg baby, don’t be sad, just because I never fucked your Dad”

One of the rare tracks on the chart that was only released last year. This means it’s probably higher than it will be over time, but that’s inevitable when you’re capturing a snapshot of your taste at any given point. I only really discovered Garfunkel and Oates within the past year or 2, so a decent number of their songs have made it in as I’m just loving them right now. If you’re not familiar with them, they’re specifically a comedy band, which can make them a little difficult to rank alongside more serious songs, though as I’m fond of humour in my songs anyway, I don’t think they’re remotely out of place. In fact this song follows on really nicely from Soldiers Of Christ on the Mixcloud mix. If you can’t potentially guess from the song title, this song’s about artificial insemination. The video below is of a great live acoustic version, though the album version’s on the Mixcloud mix.

763

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Lightspeed ChampionMadame Van Damme

Taken From: Lightspeed Champion – Life Is Sweet! Nice To Meet You (2010)

“Hopefully if I keep singing, maybe this will all just go away”

My previous relationship has definitely had an influence on my tastes. In good ways and in bad ways to be honest. Ignoring the way in which I started doubting my own music taste and feeling like it was inferior in some way (which this chart is actually helping me to make my way back from), I did also discover some new music and become fond of songs that I otherwise might not have ever listened to. Including this one. My ex played this song a lot around the time it was released and like the Raveonettes song on the previous post, it’s damn catchy and would get stuck in my head. Although again it’s lyrically a little troubling in that the main refrain is ‘Kill me, baby, won’t you kill me’. My ex seemingly introduced me to catchy songs about rape and wanting to die… Huh.

762

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SibrydionDesperados

Taken From: Sibrydion – Campfire Classics (2009)

“This feeling, will it ever let me go?”

Sibrydion were kind of formed from the ashes of Big Leaves in the sense that both bands included Meilir and Osian Gwynedd. Big Leaves were one of my favourite bands and Sibrydion then became one too, though they have quite a different sound. They released 4 brilliant albums, though I don’t think they have plans to release any more, sadly. I saw them live a few times too (which I sadly never got to do with Big Leaves) and they were always great. Also, in a weird kind of Cardiff’s-a-small-city way, I’m currently learning Welsh in lessons taught by Meilir’s wife Lynnsey. This happily means that she understands when I randomly recognise Welsh words from Welsh-language songs that I’ve been listening to for about 15 years, without actually knowing what most of the words mean. It’s quite exciting that I’m slowly starting to recognise more and more words in songs that I’ve been listening to incessantly for years. Although it can also be a bit weird when you’ve almost projected your own meaning on to a song instead. Not that that’s really relevant here as this song’s taken from Sibrydion’s only English-language album! And a brilliant album it is too. I really love the whole style of this song. You can listen to it on Bandcamp, or listen to my mix of all the songs, of course.

761

128↓

The TearsThe Asylum

Taken From: The Tears – Here Come The Tears (2005)

“If they burned my brain away would you understand? If they tried to hold me down would you hold my hand?”

As you can see above, The Tears’ album was released in 2005; the same year I posted the original Top 777 Songs chart. This meant that a lot of the songs from that album were featured, and mostly in quite high spots, as I loved that album so much at the time. More than 10 years later and I still really like the album, plus still love a decent number of the songs, but generally not to the same extent as I did back then. This is what I said about The Asylum back in 2005 when it charted at number 128:

Most of the Tears songs on here I’ve put higher than I’d rank them now, although this one’s an exception and definitely deserves this placing, if not a higher one! It’s a song that really grew on me as I listened to the album more and more. It’s a really interesting song and very moving. I still really really want to make a Smallville music video to it, with footage from Shattered and Asylum, but had a setback with that due to the copyright protection on the DVDs. Meh.

I’d forgotten that was the reason I never made that Smallville video. It’s still what I always think about when I hear this song. Although it’s dropped down my favourites quite a lot and it’s fairly rare I listen to it these days, it is still a beautiful and moving song. The lyric I picked out above is the particular bit that always gets me. Brett’s lyrics can be a bit hit and miss at times, but when he hits me in the heart, he hits me in the heart! I can only find a live version on YouTube, but it’s a good one (despite the audio quality not being ideal).

Songs that previously charted in these positions in 2005 but have now dropped out of the chart:

3 Responses to Top 777 Songs: 770 – 761

770. Rufus Wainwright – Going To A Town: I quite like Rufus, though I must admit I’m not familiar with this particular song – I’d say my favourite of his is Oh What A World – I’m liking this a lot though, there’s a sort of world weariness to the lyrics that’s quite affecting. But it’s also quite positive I think, sort of hopeful. What a really lovely song.

769. Acid Casuals – Bowl Me Over: I’m aware of Acid Casuals, though I don’t think I’ve ever actually heard anything by them before, so this is quite interesting for me. This is great! Not massively dissimilar to some Super Furries really (although they have spanned such a range of different musical styles, that that doesn’t really narrow things down much!). This is another I could see getting stuck in my head after a few listens, really catchy. NOTE: I wrote that before reading your comments, guess we both agree about the Super Furries bit!

768. Jill Sobule – You Better Not Kill In Texas: Our first repeat appearance in the chart! Ooh, a bit of country almost. This is really great so far, I think I’ll download it. My favourite song of hers that I’ve heard so far.

767. Remy Zero – Gramarye: I only know of Remy Zero through Save Me, although I liked that well enough at the time to buy the single when it came out, so this song is another first time listen for me. This is quite different to Save Me isn’t it? It’s okay, but if I’m honest it hasn’t massively grabbed me. Can’t love everything I guess! Actually, it’s growing on me a bit as it progresses, reminds me a little of something that I can’t quite place, hmm…

766. Frente! – Bizarre Love Triangle: Glad to see Frente! make an appearance. I suppose I must have heard the New Order version of this before, but I’m actually more familiar with this version. Although having checked my copy of ‘Marvin The Album’, it’s not on there. I’m pretty sure I bought it when I was in Oz, so I’m guessing this track was a UK bonus or something? Totally agree that Angie Hart has a great voice too. Anyway, this is really lovely, like you say such a lot of emotion in there. Love it!

765. Jill Sobule – Soldiers Of Christ: Three times already for Ms Sobule! I’m liking this a lot as well, I really need to investigate her further I think. I love the lyrics to this one. I think this may have replaced Texas as my favourite of hers now!

764. Garfunkel and Oakes – Frozen Lullaby: I do have a fondness for the few Garfunkel and Oates songs I’ve heard, but this one is new to me. Ha! Best lyrics ever! This is ridiculous, but in a good way. Really laughing along with this. The fast bit at the end is great too.

763. Lightspeed Champion – Madam Van Damme: I’ve never really explored Lightspeed Champion, although I did actually see him live at the Field Day festival back in 2010. The “kill me baby, won’t you kill me” part is quite catchy isn’t it?! I do quite like this actually, another one I could listen to on repeat a few times I think.

762. Sibrydion – Desperados: I always liked Big Leaves, but never really listened to Sibrydion much. Listening to this now, I’m not really sure why. I like this one a lot, I’m going to be busy exploring all these artists further, aren’t I?! Very enjoyable this one.

761. The Tears – The Asylum: I remember liking Refugees when it came out as a single, but was never as sure about their other tracks. I suppose the inevitable Suede comparisons are a bit unfair really, and actually listening to this now, it’s actually pretty good. Maybe I should revisit the album.

Of the ones that dropped out, Karma Chameleon is a fun pop song. I Am, I Feel is another I’ve always quite liked, the sort of song that if it comes on the radio you have a bit of a sing along to. She’s A Star I like well enough. I actually saw Electric Six live once and I think Gay Bar got the loudest sing along of any song I’ve ever heard live!

Oh, I think your music taste is great by the way! You should never feel inferior about it, glad you’re moving away from that mind set. Keep on posting these great songs and it’ll certainly keep me happy!

Yay! I’m loving reading your comments 😀 Also really pleased you’re enjoying the songs so much – especially the Jill Sobule ones. There are quite a few of hers towards the bottom of the chart for some reason, though a decent number have made it further up in the chart too.

I really like Oh What A World by Rufus too. Not really sure why I didn’t put it on my shortlist, though it probably would have just missed out as Going To A Town only just made it in.

Just checked on Wikipedia and yeah, Bizarre Love Triangle was only on the international release of Marvin The Album. I only actually bought that album on CD recently (I got it cheap at Hay Festival last year), though have had it on MP3 for ages. Turns out my CD copy doesn’t have that track on either, so must be the original release. Not really sure if I’m pleased or disappointed about that.